From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art ....From the Desert to the Sea: Managing Rock Art, Country and Culture. This Project will expand our understanding of Aboriginal settlement and land-use in north-west Australia by investigating how the mythological narratives of Australia’s deserts enable the transmission of knowledge in water-limited environments. Combining traditional ecological knowledge and novel scientific approaches (e.g. anthracology, remote sensing, oxygen-isotopes) will provide new insights into human behaviours at rock art site complexes. It will develop management regimes and formal certification for Indigenous rangers while building heritage capacity in these partner communities: enabling intergenerational, culturally appropriate knowledge transfer protocols are in place to ensure sustainable economic heritage futures.Read moreRead less
Keeping culture: Utilising Koori Elders wisdom and knowledge in education. Sharing the wisdom and knowledge of New South Wales (NSW) Koori Elders is imperative for the continuation of Koori culture and for the understanding of all Australians of the country we share. By recording oral histories and illustrating them with historical and contemporary records, images, and commentary, by insider-interview, recording and collaborative editing with participants, the project aims to document Koori Elde ....Keeping culture: Utilising Koori Elders wisdom and knowledge in education. Sharing the wisdom and knowledge of New South Wales (NSW) Koori Elders is imperative for the continuation of Koori culture and for the understanding of all Australians of the country we share. By recording oral histories and illustrating them with historical and contemporary records, images, and commentary, by insider-interview, recording and collaborative editing with participants, the project aims to document Koori Elders' wisdom and knowledge, perspectives and experiences, for use in school and community education. Expected outputs include a scholarly book, refereed-journal articles, conference presentations, and preparation resources for NSW school students, and academic publications. The proposed outputs will make it accessible to schools and communities.Read moreRead less
Shielding our futures: storytelling with ancestral and living knowledge. This project aims to overcome persistent narratives of loss and despair with regards to Aboriginal cultures within urban and metropolitan communities today. Storytelling is an essential means of knowledge transmission that ensures the survival of diverse Indigenous knowledge, however colonial storytelling has removed the Stories from Country, their peoples, and the important lessons within them. The project will reciprocall ....Shielding our futures: storytelling with ancestral and living knowledge. This project aims to overcome persistent narratives of loss and despair with regards to Aboriginal cultures within urban and metropolitan communities today. Storytelling is an essential means of knowledge transmission that ensures the survival of diverse Indigenous knowledge, however colonial storytelling has removed the Stories from Country, their peoples, and the important lessons within them. The project will reciprocally engage with the oral histories of D’harawal Elders that engage with Garuwanga Waduguda (Ancestral Laws) and Narinya Wadugua (Living Laws) to emancipate representations of D’harawal’s knowledge from dominant colonial-storytelling narratives that largely speak of assimilation, cultural loss and extinction. The project will assist in revitalisation and respect of Aboriginal identities and knowledge within urban communities.Read moreRead less
A reliable absolute chronology for the Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley, Western Australia. The Aboriginal rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is an internationally significant record of human occupation and cultural evolution. This project will determine the antiquity of human expression in one of the richest (and possibly the oldest) rock art regions in the world using advanced analytical techniques.
Recirculating Indigenous traveling songs. This project aims to develop new understandings of how unrestricted Indigenous traveling songs have spread across vast geographic and linguistic boundaries in Australia, investigating ways these songs can contribute to greater social connectedness today. It intends to energise collaborative networks across Indigenous communities, language centres, and holding institutions around the world. Forging models to reinvigorate the performance of traveling songs ....Recirculating Indigenous traveling songs. This project aims to develop new understandings of how unrestricted Indigenous traveling songs have spread across vast geographic and linguistic boundaries in Australia, investigating ways these songs can contribute to greater social connectedness today. It intends to energise collaborative networks across Indigenous communities, language centres, and holding institutions around the world. Forging models to reinvigorate the performance of traveling songs across a wide and diverse range of interconnected localities, this project should advance the potential for Indigenous performance culture to contribute to language revitalisation, cultural identity, and the facilitation of cross-cultural diplomacy in national and international contexts.Read moreRead less
Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. Th ....Aboriginal rock art and cultural heritage management in Cape York Peninsula. The Laura Sandstone Basin of Cape York Peninsula hosts one of the richest bodies of rock art in Australia and the world. It documents the life-ways of generations of Aboriginal Australians from their original settlement, through major environmental changes, to European invasion. This vast area, much of which is now jointly managed as National Parks by Traditional Owners, remains virtually unexplored archaeologically. This project aims to record this unique rock art so that its testimony remains for future generations. This will provide a framework for its sustainable management and findings will have profound implications for our understandings of the cultural behaviour and dispersal of the earliest modern humans to colonise Australia.Read moreRead less
Reconnecting Warlpiri communities with cultural heritage materials. The projects aims to reconnect Warlpiri communities with past documentation and recordings of their cultural heritage. Centred in Yuendumu, the project expects to unpack the significance of past documentation of cultural heritage for present day Warlpiri people who live in vastly different social worlds from their forebears. Through collaborations with Warlpiri families, and Partner Organisation, Pintupi Anmatyerr Warlpiri (PAW) ....Reconnecting Warlpiri communities with cultural heritage materials. The projects aims to reconnect Warlpiri communities with past documentation and recordings of their cultural heritage. Centred in Yuendumu, the project expects to unpack the significance of past documentation of cultural heritage for present day Warlpiri people who live in vastly different social worlds from their forebears. Through collaborations with Warlpiri families, and Partner Organisation, Pintupi Anmatyerr Warlpiri (PAW) Media and Communications, the project will see the set up of activities to engage with these materials and the production of resources for use by future generations.Read moreRead less
Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the comm ....Preserving Aboriginal language through song archives. This project aims to explore how song can preserve vanishing Indigenous languages. Song and language are integral to the wellbeing and knowledge of Indigenous peoples, and the loss of Indigenous languages is a national and global crisis. Focusing on the endangered Nyungar language of the south-west of Western Australia, this project will develop a model to recirculate and perform archival songs in online and physical spaces, engaging the community while developing resources for future use. The outcomes of this project are expected to inform global efforts to sustain intangible cultural heritage and contribute to the Australian reconciliation agenda.Read moreRead less
Heritage and Reconciliation. This project will re-conceptualise heritage from a standpoint of reconciliation. In doing so, it will generate new understandings about how heritage and its management can contribute to reconciliation processes. The project will combine Aboriginal, Maori and Western intellectual traditions in order to advance theoretical understandings of heritage and to examine its reconstructive power. It will produce models for practical implementation, including new conservation ....Heritage and Reconciliation. This project will re-conceptualise heritage from a standpoint of reconciliation. In doing so, it will generate new understandings about how heritage and its management can contribute to reconciliation processes. The project will combine Aboriginal, Maori and Western intellectual traditions in order to advance theoretical understandings of heritage and to examine its reconstructive power. It will produce models for practical implementation, including new conservation and management protocols. The project's investigation of a new approach to heritage has the potential for profound social benefit.Read moreRead less
The Aboriginal land estate in New South Wales. This project aims to investigate Aboriginal economic activity via the first extensive place-based ethnographic study of New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Land Council. It examines approaches to managing lands for economic development and community benefit, especially the leveraging of communal land holdings for economic advancement as the return of land to the NSW Aboriginal community will escalate from 2017. Yet the benefits of land-based entreprene ....The Aboriginal land estate in New South Wales. This project aims to investigate Aboriginal economic activity via the first extensive place-based ethnographic study of New South Wales (NSW) Aboriginal Land Council. It examines approaches to managing lands for economic development and community benefit, especially the leveraging of communal land holdings for economic advancement as the return of land to the NSW Aboriginal community will escalate from 2017. Yet the benefits of land-based entrepreneurialism in NSW have never been reviewed. The project will provide significant benefits, including improved policy settings and insights into Aboriginal worlds.Read moreRead less